No, this is not a vampire story. Merely, I’ve been rather at loose ends lately, which is normal for this time of year. I’ve become increasingly solar powered over the past few years, and I’m really looking forward to the day after the solstice, when we can all breathe a sigh of relief that at least the sun hasn’t gone out. Hopefully. With the way this year has gone, I’d be annoyed but not particularly surprised to find that the world’s gone mad. Again.
But the first seed catalogs for 2024 arrived last week, which always amuses me. Of course the companies want to take advantage of the usual Christmas shopping spree, but there’s something giggle-worthy about flipping through seed catalogs when, technically, winter hasn’t even started yet.
I’ve set aside the first draft of The Root of All Evil for a bit, to let it mature/ferment/rot/insert appropriate verb here, so, between the catalogs and a glance at the calendar that shows we have just over six months before The Next Great Move, my few thought processes have been mostly concentrated on domestic concerns. Am I going to garden at all next year?- what will the next house look like?- how the heck am I going to get all of this stuff packed up in only six months? The answers are variants on, I don’t know. We’re moving at the end of June, right in the middle of the gardening season for this area (and the early middle of the season for our destination) so I might content myself with a tomato plant or two in pots, and try starting some cool-weather seeds like lettuce once I get settled in. I have no idea what our living situation is going to look like, but a glance at Zillow says that the rental market is still insane.
I’ve already started packing, but it’s a process, and a slow one. Hence why I’m starting now, not in May. My main problem at the moment is finding places to store the packed boxes, which mostly contain books I’m not likely to read before June. The shelves take up the same amount of space whether they’re cleared or not, plus the extra volume of the boxes. I did discover a helpful inventory method- take a picture of the books before you put them in the box, then label the picture and the box. Much easier than writing out the titles by hand, and I highly recommend it if you happen to be boxing up a library. Medieval monks would drool enviously over my collection, and not just because I could build myself a fort of books from which to fend off the Vikings.
But enough of that. Does anything grow in your garden this time of year? Have you started planning for next year? Are you crazy like me, and trying to do unrelated projects in between the holiday hustle?
Merry Christmas, and I’ll see you all in 2024!
Mad Genius Club 
5 responses to “One Bite at a Time”
Hardy Cyclamen grows! I’ve got to get more.
The leaves are hugely variegated. The flowers look like pink butterflies hovering over the soil.
My sole cyclamen blooms in mid-November.
There’s apparently many kinds but they’re difficult to find even though they are easy to grow. They don’t appreciate being dug up at the wrong time in their cycle and so arrive at the nursery all dried out and mostly dead.
The hostas are asleep for the year. Next year, they’ll look great.
“But the first seed catalogs for 2024 arrived last week, which always amuses me.”
Kipling was amused too.
https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/pan_in_vermont.html
“Now o’er a careless knee he flings the painted page abroad –
Such bloom hath never eye beheld this side of Eden Sward;
Such fruit Pomona marks her own, yea, Liber oversees,
That we may reach (one dollar each) the Lost Hesperides!
Serene, assenting, unabashed, he writes our orders down: –
Blue Asphodel on all our paths – a few true bays for crown –
Uncankered bud, immortal flower, and leaves that never fall –
Apples of Gold, of Youth, of Health – and – thank you, Pan, that’s all….”
Strangely enough, the bees are all a-buzz about our loquat trees right now. Even in Florida I think December is a tad late for blooming, but what do I know – I’m not a tree.
My idea of garden excitement this time of year is peering out of the garage before I leave for work to admire the sun rise beyond the bare tree trunks. 🙂
I’ve got the blurb nailed down for my next release; now I need to do the print cover and figure out keywords.
Next year: no real plans beyond writing the sequels to the upcoming release, finishing the steampunk story, and finishing that annoying multi-chapter fanfic I have hanging out there. (I just got past the least interesting part of the source material, so it has that going for it.)
Some sturdy flowers generally hold out until January, and this year is no exception. Snapdragons in bloom on the southerly side. The summer snapdragons, on the east side, were blooming purple and pink until Advent got going, but there are still green.